


Growth

by yorkisms



Category: Outlast (Video Games)
Genre: Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Male Character, College, F/M, Jewish Lisa, Korean Waylon, Pre-Canon, Trans Male Character, Trans Waylon Park, canon says one thing; i say my city now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 18:50:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17813525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yorkisms/pseuds/yorkisms
Summary: When Waylon Park meets Lisa Klein, he's a pre-transition teenager who doesn't know where to start becoming the person he knows he is.Fortunately, Lisa isn't just a kind person, she's one he learns to fall in love with.





	Growth

**Author's Note:**

> This is not only a love letter to the tough, dynamite bitch (and I love her so much!) known as Lisa Park, but to the outlast discord for being packed with the trans Waylon love crowd. And also for bi!Parks, because honestly, their love is far too deep for them to not be.
> 
> Shout out, as well, to my previous fandoms (cough, Lazer Team) for giving me a predisposition for refining pre-canon relationships and creating definition there. 
> 
> And, finally, this is my first posted outlast fic, but I do have some longer ones in mind- with so, so much Lisa.
> 
> _Her shining face in a million reflections,_   
>  _Of tiny raindrops that fall like a veil_   
>  _Over our city like notes from above._   
>  _It overwhelms me, I just ain't that tough._
> 
> \--The Shins, September

Waylon meets Lisa Klein in his introductory biological anthropology class he’s taking for a stupid GE.

He kind of thought he was going to hate it, but then a girl sits down next to him in the lecture hall, and he’s suddenly forgetting that he’s better with technology than people. 

“Winnie Park?” 

Oh. There is that. He sinks down in his seat, trying to avoid the stares, hiding in his dirty hoodie. 

“...here.” 

\--

He next sees Lisa at a bar in the Castro district, which gives him at least a modicum of hope that she’ll understand what he's going through. God knows he hasn’t even considered talking to his preppy, cis roommate about it. She’s at a gay bar, after all, there’s no way she doesn’t know. 

And though neither of them should really be drinking, the district knows that they belong there, and provides a slight wink and nod before letting them stay. 

Lisa gets close up to him, clearly beyond her first drink, but only pleasantly tipsy. 

“You come here often?” 

Waylon chokes on his words before saying, “Uh, sometimes.” 

Recognition flickers in Lisa’s eyes. “Wait, wait, I know you. We go to, uh, school together, right? Intro to Anthro?” 

“...yeah.” 

She grins. “Well shit, I didn’t know you were gay.”

“Yeah.” He pauses. She tilts her head. 

“Something wrong?” 

He pauses, on the verge of telling her everything. “No. No! Not right now, it’s fine. I’m uh, Waylon. Waylon Park.” 

“Lisa Klein. We should study together when I’m less-- when we’re having less fun.”

“Are you lesbian?” Waylon blurts, then winces. Wow, way to sound straight. 

“Nah. Bi.” Lisa finishes her drink. 

“Oh. Uh. Cool. Good.” Better than he had thought it would go. 

“Why? You one of those gold star lesbian types?” Lisa narrows her eyes. “Cause nothing’s a bigger turnoff, I’ll have you know.”

“No, god no, I’m bi too. I just was wondering because I-”

Lisa looks him up and down, then points her glass at him. “Trans?”

Waylon freezes, nervous. He hasn’t been thinking of it, or even attempting to enforce it for that long. He can’t respond for a minute, enough time to appreciate the Queen playing over the bar’s speakers. How do they do that, is there a gay radio station? It is San Francisco, he wouldn’t be fully shocked. 

“...yeah.” 

Lisa looks sympathetic. “Hey, no problem. Do you wanna come hang out with me and my friends? We don’t bite, and besides, it’ll do you good to have some other queer friends.”

He nods, and she takes his hand, tugging him over to another group- mixed presentation, but all, very obviously, belonging to the district. 

“Hey!” Lisa calls. “This’s Waylon! He- he, right?” 

“Yeah.”

“He needs some queer friends! Can we keep ‘im?” 

“Yeah, why not?” 

“Who’d we be if we can’t keep pickin’ up strays?” 

“You into him, Lis?” 

“You jealous?” Lisa replies with a snicker. Waylon shoves his hands in his pockets, nervous, but excited. “I’m getting more drinks. Anyone else want some?” 

“Hell yeah!” 

Lisa turns to him. “What about you?” 

He pauses- alcohol isn’t his favorite, and as irrational as it is, he doesn’t want to order a “girly” drink. 

“Don’t think too hard, Way, we’re all raging queers here, it isn’t a contest.”

\--

Next Tuesday, Lisa sits next to him again in their class. This time, she says hello. 

“Morning, Way!” 

He hums, chin resting on his hand. Their professor is going to take roll soon, and Lisa’s going to have to hear his birth name again. Why does he feel like that’ll turn her off and he’s going to go back to not having any friends and lurking around the Castro trying to figure out if he should just ignore this feeling?

“Lisa Klein?”

“Here!” 

Lisa almost notices his discomfort. “Listen, so a few of us are going to be hanging out on campus this weekend, and I was wondering if you wanted-”

“Winnie Park?” 

“Here,” Waylon says weakly. Lisa carries on as if she didn’t even notice, and somehow, that just makes him like her more. 

“-to come? There’s a place over in University Village where we were thinking of meeting up, one of the townhouses-”

“Sure,” Waylon blurts out, face hot. Lisa grins. 

“Sweet! Oh, and I didn’t tell you this, but you looked so nervous the other night, so everyone asked me to invite you ‘cause you look like a lost puppy who needs a friend. To be honest, everyone’s got little ideas for you, but you don’t have to feel pressured t’do any of it. They can be overbearing, but they just wanna help.” 

That’s unfamiliar. Waylon had fantastic grades in high school, but couldn’t keep a friend group outside of family friends, who don’t really speak to him anymore since he admitted to being bisexual.

“Uh, wow, that’s...that means a lot, thanks.” 

Lisa nudges him gently, friendly. “Course. It’s the right thing to do.”

\--

Lisa takes him to the townhouse from his dorm. It turns out it’s her house, that she shares with some others from the bar the other night who all introduce themselves casually. 

There’s Naomi, Lisa’s childhood friend and ex-girlfriend- Lisa explains they experimented together in high school, but agreed they were better as friends. 

Elliot is their gay male roommate who doesn’t fit any stereotype at all, except that he’s interested in art (as a hobby, he’s actually, as he explains, interested in becoming a physical therapist). With him is his (off and on, Lisa explains) boyfriend, Manuel, who’s “still in the closet outside and dealing with it.” 

Visiting is one of Naomi’s good friends- Lisa thinks she has the hots for him- Jason, who’s straight, but Naomi’s opening his mind up. He’s Asian, like Waylon, which surprises him.

Everyone says hi, and Naomi conspiratorially says she thinks she has a really good idea he’s going to like, and produces a pair of hair scissors and a selection of dye. 

He tugs one hand through a short bob of hair that he’s been keeping because it’s only as short as any hairdresser will let him go. 

“...would you really?”

“Yeah, duh! How do you think I get it this short, hopes and dreams? Dye’s optional, but Lis said I should put it on the table.” 

And that’s how Waylon Park finds himself sitting on the floor in front of the couch as everyone watches a rerun of the TV series of  _ It _ by Stephen King, and Naomi fixes his hair. 

He doesn’t go in for dye right yet, but he wavers over a bottle of bleach until Naomi tells him it’s not going anywhere and dives into fixing his hair. 

“So what are you majoring in, Way?” Lisa asks, curled up in an armchair, more watching him than watching the TV. 

“Computer science,” he admits. “I...I’m just good with them, you know?” 

“Wish I were,” Elliot mutters.

“He’s like a hex,” Naomi complains from behind Waylon. “At least now we know someone who can fix our stuff, right?” 

“Hey, we’re not having a token I.T. friend,” Lisa says, but her tone indicates she knows it’s a joke. “Besides, we already have Jason.”

“Yeah, but he’s a business major, he doesn’t really get computers, he just uses them a lot. I once saw him kick a PC under the library desk ‘cause it froze on him.” 

Jason sputters. “I did not!” 

“Yeah, you did.” 

Everyone bursts into a fit of laughter, and surprisingly, everyone includes Waylon. 

This isn’t half bad. 

\--

“Winnie Park?” 

“Here.” 

“Hey,” Lisa whispers, before sliding him a stack of papers. “Here’s some stuff I thought you should look at. If you need any help with it lemme know after class.” 

Waylon looks down at the forms she just passed him. 

_ Court petition for legal name change.  _

_ Court petition for change of gender marker. _

He almost cries on the most important pieces of paper anyone’s ever given him. 

Lisa walks to his dorm with him, chatting excitedly. 

“Naomi’s uncle’s son-in-law works in city hall, and this is San Francisco of all places, so I was thinking, since most of our other trans friends are already all the way through the process, I figured I could hand these off to you and call in a favor to get them pushed through, you know? You look so fucking depressed at roll every morning, so maybe it’ll change your life! Oh, and Elliot and Manuel know a doctor downtown who takes care of the top surgery, the recovery is a bitch but you can fit it in if you stay here over the winter-- you...are gonna stay here over the winter, right?” 

Waylon thinks that over- his mother died when he was in high school and his father subsequently handed over all his American assets to “Winnie” Park and returned to his family in Korea. 

“I haven’t got anything better to do.” 

Lisa grins. “Oh man, Waylon, we’re gonna Queer Eye for the Straight Guy your whole life. Except you’re not straight. Whatever, you know what I mean, right?” 

\-- 

He sits down in one of his upper division programming classes- advanced javascript and C++- in January. 

“Waylon Park?” 

“Here.” 

He’s finally, finally gone in for the blond dye, though not all the way down to the roots- he thinks he likes the way it looks. He’s also finally reached a point where he feels okay wearing something other than the same sweaty hoodie to classes. 

Last weekend, before classes started, Lisa gave the hoodie a viking funeral at Fisherman’s Wharf at three in the morning. Everyone cheered, and Waylon’s received fifteen new variants of sweaters- pullovers, cardigans, hoodie-jackets, and everything in between, but not one single pullover hoodie that’s too big for his body. 

Everyone’s logged into AIM on the school computers, even if they’d deny it and wipe the evidence later. Waylon’s AIM pings as his professor starts explaining the course. 

Naomibear9: hey way btw (haha) 

Naomibear9: what d’you think of lis? Curious

Wpark81: lisa? She’s, uh, she’s very sweet.

Naomibear9: i’m lightly recommending that you buy her coffee or something, wink wink, nudge nudge. 

Wpark81: I see. 

Naomibear9: Lis would have done all that nice shit for anyone, that’s just kinda the person she is, you know? But i know what I know, and lis likes you a lot, so think about it

Naomibear9: now get back to your class loverboy <3 

[Naomibear9 is offline] 

Waylon pauses to make a note about advanced C++ protocol, and then shoots Lisa a message. 

Wpark81: Lisa, do you want to get coffee when I’m done with advanced cs today? You don’t have class, right? 

Lis480: free as a bird. Whereabouts? 

Waylon messages her a location, and then logs off to focus on writing code. 

Lisa meets him at an on-campus cafe, where he orders a latte, and she orders a black coffee.

“My parents live in Oakland right now. They think I should visit for the weekend, maybe bring someone along- well, someone who isn’t Naomi. They like seeing her, don’t get me wrong, but they’ve seen her every Saturday at the synagogue for the first, what, 18 years of our lives.” Lisa shrugs, hands wrapped around her coffee. “But I told them, I don’t have anything going on right now.” 

Waylon tilts his head inquisitively. “Tell me if I’m being too forward, Lis, but do you want to? Have something going on?”

“Are you offering?” she pauses, grinning mischievously. “I thought you’d never ask, Way.” 

He ends up buying her dinner that night too, even though she begs him to let her go dutch. 

\--

After they graduate, they get a tiny apartment further away from the city, and Waylon picks up an IT contract for a local store. Lisa goes to law school. It doesn’t pay perfectly, but Lisa’s grades are sky-high, and Waylon has no doubt this won’t last forever. 

Naomi calls them one day while Lisa’s in class. 

“Hey, Naomi, Lisa’s out.”

“No, I know,” she says cheerfully. “I wanted to talk to you!” 

“Yeah? What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing’s wrong, Waylon, we’re friends, that’s what friends do, call each other.” 

“Somehow I doubt that, but, uh, go on?” 

“No, really! I was just thinking about how the first time we took you out to a bar after you got top surgery, a few weeks on when you got cleared to do that kinda stuff again, and some straight dude tried to grab my ass and you busted up a beer bottle and almost stabbed him?” 

Waylon puts his face in one hand. Yes, he did do that, he was tipsy and enjoying the wave of confidence being called sir in public was giving him. “We’re lucky no one called the cops, Naomi.” 

“Well, yeah, but it was still cool of you. I’m pretty sure that’s when Lis decied she  _ really _ wanted to keep you.” Naomi pauses, and Waylon can hear her tapping something (a desk she’s sitting at?) in thought. “How’s Lisa doing, anyway?” 

“She’s destroying law school- but I think everyone knew that was gonna happen. She’s probably gonna work at a practice within the year. Why?” 

“Well, obviously she’s not there so I can’t ask her, dummy.” 

“Ouch. Alright.” 

“What time’s she get home tonight?” 

“Bout five.” 

“Cool, maybe I’ll call her tonight or something. Have a good day, Waylon.”

“Bye, Naomi.” 

Waylon hangs up and goes to work on time. 

His shift ends at five-thirty, and when he’s leaving he sees Lisa, who’s wearing a floral print dress and grinning. 

“Lisa?” 

“Come on, come on, we don’t have all day!” 

She piles him into her ancient Mercedes-Benz, and floors it down to Fisherman’s Wharf. 

The sun is almost done setting as they pull up at the spot where Lisa had turned his hoodie into a molotov cocktail while they were in college. 

She gets out, and motions for him to follow her. They walk until there’s a view of the ocean, and Lisa squeezes his hand gently. 

“What’s on your mind, Lis?” 

Lisa turns to him, and smiles. “Oh, don’t act like you don’t know already.” 

Waylon laughs. “I was gonna ask you, Lis, come on.” 

“Nope! I got here first! I get to ask you! Way, I’ve had the chance to watch you grow out of the most awkward phase of your entire life, and into a real cutie pie. Not that you weren’t before, but, now you just seem so much happier, you know? And I kinda wanna see the person you keep growing into. I love you, baby. So, if you want, would you do me the honor of-”

“Lis, you know what I’m gonna say, babe.”

“Oh, come on, I wrote a speech and everything!” 

“Yes, Lisa, of  _ course _ I’ll marry you.” 

Lisa grins a mile wide and he picks her up around the waist, spins her around, and then kisses her softly. 

\--

Waylon’s used to Korean diaspora weddings, where you hear about the engagement and then within three months you’re attending the event. 

Lisa’s used to Jewish-American ones, where they get at least a bit more time to plan. 

So they negotiate aspects- yes, they’re going to have the ceremony done by a rabbi, since Waylon isn’t religious, the ceremony will have Lisa’s influence and the reception will have his, for the most part. 

Waylon sends an invitation to his father in Busan, with a letter explaining his situation as a trans man, and how much it would mean to him if someone from his family could come, even if they aren’t close. 

His father sends his love in return, though he doesn’t think he can get a plane ticket in time- but he encloses some money, a wedding gift. Waylon cries happy tears, and Lisa hugs him tight. 

Though technically, he could see Lisa before the ceremony without it being unlucky, at least not for his culture, Lisa insists she’s going to surprise him- not because it’s bad luck, but because she wants to.

Which is a decision Waylon wouldn’t have any other way when he sees Lisa coming down the aisle towards him in a lacy, flowing dress, and he feels so happy his heart could burst, so happy he could cry- and cry he does. 

“Lis, I…” He pauses to wipe his eyes, and tries to remember the vows he finished writing last week. “...you’ve been the best person you can be to me ever since we met. That’s just the kind of person you are, and, um, that’s what I love about you. Never stop being so willful, and, and stubborn, and loving, Lisa. Never stop being yourself. Never stop being my best friend.” 

Lisa smiles, her eyes full of tears. “Oh, Way...it’s been such an honor to see you come out of your, your figurative cocoon, and though you could do anything you wanted now I’m just so happy you want to be with me. I love the person you are, and I’m gonna love the person you’ll be in ten years, and twenty, and fifty. I can’t wait to grow old with you, baby, I love you."

She kisses him for what feels like an eternity, and the rabbi hands them a cloth sack with glass in it. Waylon takes Lisa’s hand and together, they bring their feet down on it- his dress shoes, her robin’s egg blue high heels. 

“Mazel tov!” the guests call, and the only thing he can do right then is embrace Lisa, his wife. 

“Everyone, Waylon Park and Lisa Klein Park!” 

\--

The reception is the most tiring night of his life. 

They stay until the end, as friends bid them goodbye and filter out. As they enjoy fruit desserts Waylon picked out, Jason, now Naomi’s fiancee, approaches them. 

“Hi Jason!” Lisa says, tired but still upbeat. “Are you and Naomi-bear leaving?” 

“Oh, not yet, but there was something I wanted to talk to you two about on this, uh, happy occasion.” 

“What’s that?” Lisa asks, inquisitively. Jason looks nervous.  

“Well, sorry if this is too hard a conversation right now, but if you guys want kids...I’d be more than happy to, ah, donate.” 

Waylon and Lisa look at each other for a moment, stunned. 

“That’s um, a very kind offer Jason. We’ll-- think about it.”

“Yeah, sure. Naomi was saying Lisa was always so good with kids when they were in high school, so I thought…”

“Maybe someday,” Lisa says politely. “And it’s good of you to think of us, Jay. Tell Naomi to come say goodbye before the night’s over, alright?”

“Sure. Congratulations, by the way.”

As Jason heads off, Waylon and Lisa burst into shocked laughter together. 

“Your friends, Lis. I swear, you just attract people who can’t do anything but help.”

“What does that say about you?” Lisa giggles, and Waylon pauses. 

“That you have good taste, obviously.”

Lisa leans over and kisses him. 

He’s in love with her. He’s in love with his future- their future. 

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoyed the work? Send me a comment, or kudos! 
> 
> Want to know more about me, my writing, and how to support it? Visit me on tumblr @ maggie-wittington! 
> 
> Wanna find the writing I do with my partner and roommate PeacefulPhoenix? Visit us @ writing-partners! 
> 
> And most of all, thank you for reading this far. <3


End file.
